The Sun Lord
by Storyteller09
Summary: Mac and Flack have a secret, but when a friend from Mac's past shows up, it'll force them to tell the team. Fantasy fic, NOT slash. Goes with my 'Sang Real' universe. Side story to King of Dragons in NCIS.


A/N: This is a side story to King of Dragons in my 'Sang Real' universe (KoD is NCIS and Sang Real is under Stargate Atlantis if you're wondering; you can find them on my profile page). This does make references to KoD. It also has no Peyton. Hope you enjoy!

**The Sun Lord**

"Danny, what've we got?" I asked. Danny Messer, one of my CSI team, shook his head.

"Mac, whoever this guy is, he's good." Danny answered. I wanted to slam my fist into a wall. This guy had murdered thirteen women in two weeks, one a day, by stabbing them through the heart with a razor sharp knife. If he held to his normal rate, he was going to murder another woman tonight. And we didn't have any evidence or leads to who he was. It was infuriating. I struggled to keep my emotions under control. For me to lose control was the last thing we needed right now. I started to pace.

"We're missing something. Get Stella to pull up all the victims' addresses on one map. There has to be a pattern." I ordered. He nodded and placed a call. I threw away my gloves and we drove back to the Crime Lab. That crime scene was a bust. When I got up to the labs, I zeroed in on Stella's lab. When I got there, I was faced with an eerie sight. The addresses were pulled up and marked on a single three-dimensional map of New York. They locations were all on the same level and formed a six-pointed star. Unlike the Star of David, this star had one long point with an extra small point inside it and five other small points. I grimaced at the familiarity. Surely some cultist had copied the design.

"It looks complete." Stella pointed out angrily. If it was, there went our chance to catch this psycho. "Is he done? Is he gonna start again?"

"There'll be one more. Exactly in the center at the same elevation as the others." I shook my head. It's better to be safe than sorry. If this sign was connected to me, that's where the last victim would live. And if it wasn't, not only would I be relieved that that woman was safe, but it would dispel the growing unease I was feeling. At Stella's stare I tried to explain. "It makes sense. He'll save the center for last to wrap the design up."

"Right." She pulled up the name and address of the person who lived in that location. It was a young woman whose full name was Mary Morningstar Brenham. Cue the irony. I grabbed my keys and pointed at that address, dialing Flack while I moved.

"That's where he'll strike. Get the others ready and pray that we get there in time." I took the elevator (no way was I going to be able to beat it down that many flights of stairs without jumping out a window) and ran out into the garage. With my luck, Danny was just pulling up. He opened the door.

"Stella called, told us what you found. Figured you'd want a quick ride. Come on." He offered, being helpful. I forced a small smile, hoping that it would seem that I was worried, not upset. Truthfully, the last thing I needed was Danny to accompany me to the crime scene. I hopped in and we took off. I informed Flack of the situation, unable to convey my suspicions with Danny listening. He seemed to understand and I almost heard the worry growing in his voice. By the time I hung up, I was sure that he'd seen the same signs I did and had come to the same conclusions. We pulled up to Brenham's building. It was a large, ornate building with multiple balconies. I got out, checking my gun and badge.

"Danny, stay here. When Flack gets here with back-up, tell him where I am. He'll understand." I ordered. He opened his mouth to protest and I cut him off. "Listen to me Danny. You're not qualified to take this guy on. I've been a soldier; I can handle myself."

"I can handle myself, Mac." He pointed out sullenly. If I was wrong about the identity of our perpetrator, I was going to make a serious apology, but I did have the most experience with what I thought I may face. "But I'll listen."

"Good." I nodded, keeping my words short. The sun was going down and time, if my worst fear was real, was running out. I sprinted up the flights of stairs, thankful that Mary Brenham lived on the fourth floor. I ran silently down the hall until I found her apartment and put my ear to the door. When I heard his voice, I mentally cursed and fumbled for my neck. It was him. I slammed into the door, effectively opening it, and burst into the room. It was him: Damon Nightdawn. He whirled and crouched. When he realized it was me, his face clouded over.

"You!" He pulled the knife out of its sheath on his belt. "I was so close to completing the Star of Night, why did you have to show up?"

"I should have realized days ago that this was your handiwork. How could I have missed the signs? I must admit, you've definitely learned to cover the traces of your presence though." I relaxed my hand on my gun and grabbed the knife I carried in a hidden sheath. "I suggest you back off. I have back-up coming. Your attempt to usurp the throne has been stopped. The last girl isn't dead and the sun just set. Please, Damon, we were friends, give up."

"No!" He turned to check the sun's position and I lunged. He leaped backwards through the open balcony door. I recovered and circled warily. A sudden movement behind me made me nearly jump out of my skin. Damon took the opportunity and hurled himself over the side, getting away. I swore and looked at what had distracted me.

"Danny!" I yelled, exasperated. I ran over to the side and looked over. There was no way I was letting him get away. "He's getting away."

"Are you crazy? Mac, we're on the fourth floor. He's dead." Danny stared at me. I had **NOT **wanted to let the others know like this. I sighed and put my knife up in preparation.

"Listen, I really didn't want you to find out like this, but Flack's coming too late and I have to catch this guy or he'll keep killing. Tell Flack what happened; he'll take care of it." I looked over the edge and noted the trail Nightdawn was leaving. "If I don't go now, the trail will be cold and I'm the only one who is fast enough and close enough to the trail to catch him. And for God's sake, Danny, this time stay put when I tell you."

"Mac, what's going on?" Danny asked, utterly confused. I pushed him away and back flipped up onto the balcony rail, balancing easily.

"I'll tell you everything." I promised. Before he could react, I leaned back and fell. With the short distance to the ground, I immediately shifted, feeling the feathers burst out of my skin and my size shrink. When the flames covered me, I winged my way after my quarry.

* * *

"Hey." I walked up to the cluster of people waiting patiently at the crime scene. It was almost eleven o'clock and the dark brought a fine drizzle with it. Danny had stayed and was joined by Flack, Stella, Hawkes, and Lindsay. First things first. I turned to Flack and wearily reported, handing him the newly cleaned knife. "It's done. Took me nearly two hours to catch up to him, but he won't hurt anyone again. It was Damon. And he didn't want to go peacefully either. I had to take him down."

"I'm sorry, sir. I know he was your friend." Flack dropped the pretense of detective. The others looked at me in thinly disguised confusion. Danny was refusing to look at me or Flack at all. "I haven't told them yet. I figured you'd want to do that, sir."

"How many times do I have to tell you to just call me Mac? Even though I'm telling them, it doesn't mean you can drop back into bad habits." I scolded him tiredly and he let out a faint grin. I turned back to the others. "How much did Danny tell you?"

"In all honesty? Nothing. He was too freaked out by something. Hasn't said a word except privately to Flack." Hawkes reported. "What's going on?"

"You should tell them what you saw first, Danny. Then I'll try to explain." I let Danny get his anger out of the way. He frowned, looked up, and actually glared at me.

"What am I supposed to say, Mac? That you jumped off that balcony after a suspect and Flack wasn't even surprised? That you're standing in front of me after I saw you fall?" He spat out. The others' mouths dropped open.

"He what?" Stella managed to stammer out. I gave a small sigh. This was going SO well already.

"All right, my turn. Yes, I did let myself fall. But no, I'm not suicidal. I'm a phoenix. So is Flack and so was the suspect we were chasing for the last two weeks. He was getting away and I had to fly after him before his trail went cold." I explained. Their eyes betrayed their doubts.

"A phoenix? Like a fire bird with mythical powers?" Lindsay finally asked. I nodded. "Since when are you a phoenix?"

"It's something you're born as, you don't become one overnight." I told her. Hawkes began to look me over.

"What does that mean? You think you can turn into a bird?" Hawkes was skeptical. I looked over at Flack and shrugged. He reluctantly nodded. I backed up a foot or so and shifted. Flack followed suit. Where we had once stood, there now were two large, flaming birds with six-foot wingspans. The others jumped back and several gasped. Stella finally worked up the nerve to approach me.

"Can I touch you?" She asked tentatively. I shook my head, unable to speak with a beak.

Carefully. It should only tickle. I warned telepathically. She let one hand land on the warm flames and then stepped back cautiously, curiosity appeased. After I made sure that show-and-tell hit home, I silently ordered Flack to change back. I shifted back, straightening my clothes self-consciously. "Now do you believe me?"

"I guess so. What all can you do?" Hawkes questioned curiously. I exchanged a rueful glance with Flack.

"In human form, phoenixes are more agile, faster, and stronger than normal humans. We also have control over fire and air. We can heal with a touch and have a form of what I guess you would call "magic." As a bird we can –obviously- fly and become invisible or teleport anywhere we've been before." I watched as Danny took this in.

"Why was that guy attacking women?" He managed to ask. I looked away in shame.

"That guy was Damon Nightdawn. He was attempting to complete a dark spell meant to give him enough power to overthrow the Sun Lord, the king of the phoenixes. The spell is called the Star of Night and is one of the many spells forbidden by our second highest law." I admitted angrily. He had killed almost fourteen women in his ambitious greed. Damon was a disgrace to our kind.

"What's the highest law?" Lindsay responded lightly. Flack chuckled.

"We're not supposed to tell anyone about our existence. We're gonna be in trouble." Flack joked. I raised my eyebrows and he smiled good-naturedly. He knew that we wouldn't be punished.

"Why do you care about whether or not this guy overthrows this king of yours? Why would you kill for him?" Hawkes hit the heart of the matter.

"I couldn't let him kill innocent woman. And I didn't want to kill him. I was going to bring him back for a fair trial, but he threatened a group of humans and I had to take him down before he killed someone else. And as for the king…" I looked down. "My full name and title isn't Detective Mac Taylor. I'm Mac Morningstar, the Sun Lord and king of the phoenixes. Flack's the heir to the throne."

"What?!" Stella burst out, shocked. "Flack's your son??"

"No!" I immediately corrected her. "Not that I don't think of him as a son or a brother, but I'm not that old. No, phoenixes choose their leaders the same way that dragons do, by strength. Granted, that usually means that the position passes from father to son as we inherit our strength from our parents, but when there is no biological successor or the successor is too young, the next strongest phoenix is the heir. My wife, Claire, was killed before we had any children. So Flack's the prince."

"Just how old are you?" Lindsay took her turn asking a question. I looked at a wall.

"At last count I was over 1,000 years old. Flack, though he seems to lose a century every time you ask him, is about 750. The reason we don't look our age is that we age slowly. Often, we take decades to be born and centuries to grow up. My father is at least 2,500 years old. As soon as I turned 800, he passed the throne to me. I wasn't too thrilled, but I find that it's better that someone take care of problems like Damon. He was my best friend for 100 years. And then he got greedy and started trying to usurp the throne and take over. He killed Claire trying to be named my heir, but I found out and banished him from the Phoenix Realms. Flack was named heir. And now, in an attempt to triple his power, Damon murdered thirteen women and almost murdered several more people. I stopped him." I explained wearily. I had seen so many things in my life span, it was ironic that this would be the one event I most dreaded. I had always been a private person and the big revelations were extremely uncomfortable. Of course, I also realized that it was necessary to explain what was going on to my team.

"Wow." Danny summed the situation up succinctly. I filled them in several facts about my existence and finally the seemed a little bit happier about the whole thing. I glanced at my watch and smiled. I had the perfect way to apologize for keeping this secret from them for so long. I looked over at Flack.

"So it's nearly time for the midnight flight and it's a full moon so it'll be spectacular tonight. We could take them." I suggested. Flack grinned easily. He had always been fun-loving. I nodded and turned to the others. "There's something you may enjoy seeing. Do you want to come?"

"I'm up for it." Stella accepted. The others gradually added their go-ahead as well. I concentrated and a circular disk appeared on the floor, big enough to hold us all. "Don't worry, it's just a teleport pad."

"Right… like we see those everyday." Danny finally felt comfortable to joke. I mentally heaved a relieved sigh. Thank goodness. I watched as first Danny and Stella stepped on, followed by the others. Flack and I waited until everyone was situated and then stepped on, activating the circle. There was a customary flash of light. When it cleared we were in the Phoenix Realms, on an extremely high cliff of a steep canyon. There were thousands of stars twinkling furiously. The dragons may have the sun beneath them, but we had the sky and our heights to keep us happy. At the sight of the others all peering over the edge I laughed.

"What can I say? Phoenixes love heights. And open sky. No cloud diving for us. We're not dragons after all." I explained.

"That's the second time you've mentioned dragons." Lindsay pointed out. I shrugged.

"Dragons aren't too bad. Now that they've found their king again, it's a lot easier to negotiate. They're ruled by Firewing. The difference between dragons and phoenixes is that dragons aren't born. They exist as souls and connect with outstanding humans that catch their eye. In fact it nearly backfired on Firewing. I've been told that he waited over ten years to meld with his human choice. The guy was too brave to go to the psychiatrist and be found out as a potential dragon. It's a fascinating story. Remind me to tell you all about it later." I promised. "The show's about to start."

"What show, Mac?" Stella looked around in confusion. I smiled gently and pointed to the sky. She glanced up. Right as she was about to turn away she noticed what I had been pointing at. A single phoenix was winging it's way straight toward the full moon. The bird was small and dark against the bright moon, but that soon changed. The others watched in fascination as the phoenix finally flared out its wings and absorbed the moonlight. The night was interrupted by the sparkling silver light that seemed to cover everyone and everything. It sparked and shimmered with pure beauty. I grinned and looked at the others. Their faces were filled with wonder. I waited until the light dimmed and the phoenix in flight returned to its roost.

"That show." I said in a hushed voice. Stella glanced over at me with teary eyes.

"That was beautiful." She finally managed to speak. I flushed and stared at the ground.

"Yeah, the full moon midnight flight is always amazing. Thought you'd like it." I explained.

"I loved it, Mac." Lindsay corrected me. Sheldon, Stella, and Danny agreed with her immediately. "I can't believe you get to see that kind of stuff every night."

"There's also a sunrise, noon, and sunset flight. We have a duty roster. The phoenix changes each time. I suppose Flack and I'll be up soon. I'm glad you enjoyed it." I locked eyes with Danny. "Do you forgive us for keeping this from you all?"

"Yeah, Mac, guess I do." He admitted gruffly. I nodded in relief.

"Okay, let's get you all home. We still have work tomorrow, remember?" I reminded them gently.

"Yep. That's Mac all right." Hawkes added dryly and the others laughed. I was glad that I was finally forced to tell them. They had deserved the right to know who I was.

* * *

A/N: So… there it is. Finally finished. Wow! That makes three things I've finished today. Hope you people are happy! Please let me know what you think.


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